The Life
by polkaPARISIAN
Summary: What created this monster? He was handsome, motivated, well-liked. But still, he was conniving, he was malevolent, he was cunning. He was Slytherin.  A story of Tom Riddle's life
1. Chapter 1

Chapter I.

The times I was used to, the playful childhood we had shared, they were all thrown away by your cruel hand. I had tried to stop you from making it happen, but I do suppose the future was really my fault. That poor boy, those poor families, they all could have been saved had I been a better person.

Then why? Why did I feel no guilt, no pain?

-*o~o*-

"Tommy? What're you looking at?" Mrs. Cole asked. I couldn't help but smile a little as Tom looked up sharply, his clean brown hair rebounding through the force.

"N... Nothing. I was just a little spaced out I s'pose. Sorry, Mrs. Cole, won't happen again."

Tom blinked his large dark green eyes a few times, never once did his mouth even twitch. He was a proper lad, always standing straight, always paying close attention to every thing and everyone. With such well kept hygiene, you'd hardly believe he was an orphan.

Mrs. Cole cast a smile, first at him, and then in my direction. She had very sharp, distinct features, but her cheeks still blushed with her ripe age. She was skinny, far smaller than any of the other workers, and she stood tall and determined.

As soon as she retreated to go prepare lunch, Tom walked over to me and cracked a small smile. "You think she noticed?" He began walking away, and I quickly followed, trying to keep up with him.

"I'm sure she didn't! Thank you..." We walked along side each other, like always. He had grown so much taller than me in the 5 years I had been at the orphanage. He took one stride for every two I took. "You're such much more skilled than me with all this stuff. I can't even raise a cup much less a whole chair!"

"You just need to practice, Justine. Come on now, lunch won't be ready fer another thir'y minutes or so, why don't we have a short lesson by the shack?" Tom replied, already on his way without my saying anything. I hurried behind him, for his strides had become much faster.

"Do you really think I'll ever be able to be as good as you?" I asked, smiling at the thought. I wished I'd be able to help myself with all the teasing kids gave me. At least whenever I moved to this orphanage after the 'accident', Tom helped. The other kids seemed to respect Tom, they never bothered him. I was a different story. No matter how hard I tried, they would find something to say about me, or some way to get me angry. But I swore, after that day, I would never overreact again.

"O' course. If I've learned how to control my powers, so can you. You just may take longer, because you're afraid. You just need to let go." His voice always reassured me. I just nodded, even though I didn't want to.

"I don't want to hurt you, even by accident." By that time we were at the shack. It was just a wooden box, big enough only for one person to walk into, like a storage for tools. It had been a long time since anyone used it, however, and because of this it had become overgrown with foliage, and even had a very large tree growing to the side of it. The best part of it was that it was still on the orphanage's grounds without anyone in the building seeing what was going on behind it.

"Don't worry 'bout that, Jay-Jay. Now, you see that feather? Do what I do."

He raised his right hand in front of him, his hands were clean and there were no imperfections, save a small burn in between his pointer finger and thumb. His eyes were focused on the feather. In two seconds it burst into flames, and then, as quick as the fire had come, it was gone. He looked over at me, and gestured for me to try.

I tentatively raised my own hand, the same as he had done, and focused on just the feather, which was now slightly black around the edges.

_Light. Light. Fire. Common...Don't make me look stupid. _I began to grow impatient. How could I be the same as him? He could control everything he did, and what I did only happened when I was angry. My eyebrows began to twitch from the strain. _Fire._ My eyes began to water from lack of blinking. _Please? _My fingers began to flex and curl, and I could feel myself growing more and more impatient and angry.

"Light for bloody sake!" I screamed, and just as soon as I had, everything became enlightened. Everything but the feather. I jumped back, and Tom moved swiftly, moving his hand in front of him, clearing everything of any traces of the flames that had begun to spread.

"You've got to be careful, Justine. You've got to control yourself." Tom said softly, smiling. He knelt to the ground and picked up the feather, that had completely escaped the fire's lick of light. He placed it behind my ear and looked into my honey eyes. "We'll try again tomorrow."

I looked down at the ground. "Actually, Tom, tomorrow is..." I thought about it for a couple seconds. But decided to disregard it, it wasn't important, "Never mind."

I ran after him, for he was already half way to the building, and didn't say a word after.

-*o~o*-

"H-happy birthday to... you. Happy birthday dear... Jay-Jay... Happy birthday to you..." I sang to myself early in the morning. The sun had yet to rise, and I spoke very softly to make sure I didn't wake anyone. I smiled once I was done and blew out a candle I had lit and pretended it was on top of a giant cake. I then proceeded to cover myself up with blankets again and allowed my eyes to fill my thoughts with dreams once again. _Finally eleven, the same age as Tom now._

-*o~o*-

I approached the shack, and saw Tom creep out from behind the tree, arms folded.

"I've been waiting for you, Justine." He didn't look happy. I looked down carefully, "Where 'ave you been?"

"Well, uh..." I stuttered softly, eyes moving wildly looking for an explanation, "Mrs. Cole, you see, she wanted... She wanted to speak with me..."

"About...?" I looked up and Tom's dark eyes were looking right at me, unwavering.

"About my hair..."

"And what's wrong with your hair?" I could feel him growing more and more impatient, and I began to get afraid. I hated when he was in this mood. He would get unreasonable.

"It was singed from yesterday... She asked me if it was you who burned it..." I coughed out finally. "I told her I just had an accident with a candle last night. Left it at that."

Tom looked down, and then seemed to change his attitude completely, "I'm sorry. I should 'ave stopped the fire sooner. I didn't know it was that close to you..."

I looked up and now he looked at me with a more earnest looking expression, almost sad. I just shook my head, "It wasn't your fault, dummy!" I flashed my teeth at him through my smile, and he nodded.

"Well come 'ere! I have something for you!" Tom said quickly and ran behind the tree to our spot.

I hurriedly followed, and saw him sitting on the floor, covering something with his hands.

"What is it?"

He uncovered what he had to reveal a small bird. It was just a baby, and it was squeaking adorably. It's face was flat and it was covered in white fuzz. "Happy birthday, Jay-Jay." He said, smiling. The bird looked up at me, it's face was heart shaped, and it's eyes slanted. It made an effort to bounce away from Tom's hands and closer to me. I dropped to my knees a couple feet away from Tom and smiled the biggest smile I could muster, and started choking out a few laughs. My eyes started to tear up, and I quickly wiped them to try and hide it from him.

"You remembered..." I laughed as the bird hopped closer and closer to me. "But... Where did he even come from?"

"Well, I found something out recently. Take a look..." Tom pulled out a feather and placed it on the ground. "I'm still pretty new at this, but I think I've gotten it down, it just takes a while..." He held his hands out, both of them, and sat there looking at the feather hard and concentrating.

It took a couple minutes, and the owl that Tom had given me had now hopped right in my lap and started cooing, as if it had known me for years, but I never looked away from the feather, because it was starting to do some very weird things.

It was floating in the air, and starting to take the shape of a bird. Even growing a beak. Whatever Tom was doing was magnificent. After only about ten minutes, it was complete, and flapping it's wings to fly away. "So far, I believe this stage to be final. Only the very first three I tried turned back into a feather."

I just sat in awe at what Tom was capable of. "That was incredible." He just laughed and scooted closer to me to pet the small creature that now sat in my lap.

I named him Tom Marvolo Riddle.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II.

When did you become like this? I really knew all along, so many premonitions, everything about your childhood just lead up to your death. I was your only friend.

-*o~o*-

They stumbled into the doors of the orphanage. I could only see the tears welling up in my eyes, not the looks on their faces. Mrs. Cole, as soon as she heard they were back, rushed to be by their sides.

I wiped the tears from my face, and saw Tom's shining face as he walked closer to me. "_There's no more need for crying, my dear Justine, everything has been taken care of._" It was a whisper, but it didn't sound like the Tom that I knew. It sounded like he was hissing at me. There was a lump in my throat that wanted me to cry more, to shout at Tom that he was wrong, that he was a monster.

I finally took my eyes off of Tom's face and looked at the two who were standing, shocked and silent, in the door way. Mrs. Cole was shaking them, begging them to speak, but their faces never changed. And they never took their eyes off of Tom. Whatever had been done was terrible, too terrible for words.

I swallowed as I tried to imagine what he had done. I had seen what he was capable of doing before, when the kids teased me, but it was nothing like this. But I suppose the kids had never physically hurt me like this before. They were only playing, but Tom was furious. "How are your knees?" Tom asked me, and I subconsciously looked down at them, they were bruised and scratched from where I hit the bricks outside.

I just shook my head and ran around the halls of the orphanage to my room. I couldn't believe that Tom was a bad person. I didn't want to believe he was capable of such punishment.

I jumped on my bed, opened Marvolo's cage, which Tom had also gotten me only a week ago, and hugged him to my chest. Finally the tears came. I coughed out several sobs, and Marvolo just sat and cooed his consolations to me. I closed my eyes and just let the picture that had been engraved in my mind sit in my sight.

Dennis and Amy standing at that door way. Staring at him. Their faces pale, their eyes wide and sunken, their whole bodies shaking. From fear. It was at that moment that I realized that the other kids didn't respect Tom, they feared him. They feared his power, and because of that fear he was able to manipulate and control them.

But he was my friend. He never tried to hurt me. He protected me. So could he be all bad? Or was it just because he viewed us as superior? Because of our abilities. The ability to hurt other people beyond imagination.

"Justine, why are you still crying?" I heard his voice, soft and sincere. His footsteps grew closer and closer, and soon he was standing in front of my bed.

I wiped the tears from my eyes, and tried my hardest not to look afraid of him. I hiccuped a couple more sobs, and soon I allowed myself to look at his face. "You didn't have... to." was all I could manage to say.

"They hurt you." He said sternly, and he put his hand on my shoulder, "I couldn't have allowed that."

Just then, Mrs. Cole came into my room and said there was a man who wished to see Tom. Her voice was quiet, as if she was trying to conceal her fear for him too.

Tom took one more look at me, and then turned and followed Mrs. Cole out the door of my room.

I looked down at Marvolo, who was still happily cooing and jumping in my lap. He had managed to grow a few more feathers from my birthday, and he was loosing more and more down. He was starting to look more and more like the owl he was.

It felt like I sat waiting for eternity. It was true that, while I was sitting there waiting for Tom, I had started thinking that they were sending him to prison. That's where everyone bad goes. But as soon as I had decided that I should go look for myself, Mrs. Cole appeared at my door step, and said that the same man that had talked to Tom now wished to speak with me.

Confused, and at that time very much wanting to see Tom, I followed her tall figure out of my room and into a smaller one, one that I didn't even know existed. It looked like an old interviewing room, like one from the television shows they would let us watch on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

There was a dark haired man with a beard sitting at the chair closest to the back of the room. "Come in, sit down, Miss Justine." I did as I was told, but left the door open in case I were to see Tom walking by.

"Are you... Are you here to take Tom away?" I asked, and looked down at my hands.

"Yes." He said simply, and I felt my entire body slump over, my expression was shocked, I was right? "But I'm here to take you away too, you see."

I looked up, one eyebrow raised, and my mouth now gaping. "What'dyou mean?"

"You and Tom, you're both very different aren't you?" He began to explain, pausing to see my face change once again into one of more understanding.

"We're not mad-" But he cut me off before I could continue.

"I'm the same as you. Now tell me. What can you do that's different from other children? What is special about you?" He was now talking very slowly, like he was being careful with the words that he was choosing.

"I can... Set things on fire, without matches. Move feathers off the ground by just raising my hand. Tom can do more though. He's taught me things. He can do anything." I began speaking with admiration, and I wanted to go more into what Tom could do, but once again he stopped me.

"Can you speak to snakes? Like Tom can? Has he taught you that too?"

I paused. I felt like this question was more of a trick. Like he was eager to know something that we shouldn't do. See through a lie. "Who are you?"

"I am a professor." He said, and he seemed to drop his question before entirely, like he got his answer. "A professor of witches, like yourself. You see, I teach at a school where they can teach you how to use magic, and also control it."

"Tom teaches me." I said softly.

"Tom will also be attending, he has already agreed." The professor said plainly. I was sold to go. I wanted to follow Tom anywhere. "Well then, pack your things, my dear young lady. I have already told Tom where to go and what to do." He seemed to know by my expression that my mind was made.

I nodded my head and finally looked up at the large man sitting in front of me through my golden copper hair. "As long as Tom goes." I reassured myself.

_As long as he goes I'll be safe._


End file.
